


Neighbours

by orphan_account



Series: The Various Living Conditions of Keith and Lance [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coffee Shops, Falling In Love, How Do I Tag, I DID THE TAG THING, I wanted more Hunk in this but it didn't happen, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Love at First Sight, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sappy, Tags Are Hard, The Princess Bride References, but not only about coffee shops, pidge is great, that's all for today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 06:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9421649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith knows at least two things for sure:1) His downstairs neighbour is an annoying asshole.2) That guy he saw at the coffee shop that one time is the most beautiful person in existence.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first time using Ao3 or writing about Voltron so please bear with me, I'm trying my best!  
> This is fairly light hearted but keep in mind that there is a lot of swearing and some fairly vague mentions of sex so if any of those things might offend you I don't suggest reading it.  
> Thanks and I hope you enjoy this!

06.28.16.

Summer had decided to hit the city with a force unlike any other the year it all happened. The heat had seeped through every nook and cranny, forcing out any hint of comfort that could have existed. The only places of refuge were stores that blasted AC to attract customers. It wasn’t hell, but it was pretty close in temperature.

It was in this heat that Keith Kogane, hair plastered to the back of his neck and clothes drenched in sweat, was finally going to tell Lance McClain exactly how he felt about him.

To the asshole in apartment 302,  
I’d appreciate it if you’d stop blasting your fucking trash music at 3 in the fucking morning. Some of us have lives we have to function during.  
Sincerely,  
Disgruntled neighbour in apartment 402

Keith admired his handy work and put the note on the door of apartment 302 using a piece of duct tape, just to make life more difficult for his neighbour. He smiled and walked back down the stairs to his apartment where he got into a cold shower in an attempt to wash some of the heat that clung to his body.

After stepping out of the shower and attempting to dry his hair in air that was almost as wet as his shower on account of the humidity Keith put on his work clothes and set off.

***

The heat made Keith sluggish as he worked, but nobody noticed since it had the same effect on them. The only person who was completely unaffected was his coworker Coran who was bouncing up and down serving coffee like it was his favourite pass time. Keith hated his guts.

“Could you maybe not?” He spat after Coran’s 50th cheery “Have a nice day”.

“Not what?” His coworker asked, his face full of innocence.

“Not bounce around like it’s actually a comfortable temperature out there? It's fucking 500 degrees.”

“It’s not 500 degrees, Keith.” Corn told him with a smile that made Keith want to scream. He would have too if not for a new customer who was looking just as dragged out as he was. Keith gave them a frown of solidarity as they ordered an expresso.

“Can I get a name?” Keith asked.

“Um, yeah. Pidge.”

Keith nodded and put their drink together, writing their name on it and calling it out when he was done. Pidge grabbed the drink and went to sit by the window, pulling out their laptop and doing some work. 

Every so often Keith would glance over at Pidge, not because he found them attractive but because it was nice to see someone so overworked and dependent on caffeine when he was working next to someone like Coran. Then, after a while, Keith glanced over and saw that his new favourite customer had a friend and that Keith wouldn’t be looking over because of Pidge anymore.

Pidge’s friend was pretty in the way that, say, a flower or cloud was pretty. You couldn’t say why it was so beautiful, it just was. Their friend wasn’t attractive by conventional standards, although he defiantly wasn’t ugly. He was kinda scrawny with almost honey-coloured skin and a flop of brown hair and although Keith couldn’t say why, he couldn’t take his eyes away.

***

He finished work in a daze that had lasted long after the stranger left and glided home wondering if love at first sight was a thing and if that was what it felt like. He was so distracted that almost didn’t notice the note that was taped to his door. Almost.

Annoying Dipshit,  
I’ll stop playing my music when you stop breeding elephants or whatever it is you do up there that makes those annoyingly loud bangs.  
Fuck off,  
Lance from 302

Keith rolled his eyes, snapped out of his daze by how rude the note was, and went inside. He dropped all his things and grabbed a piece of paper, writing another note to his neighbour.

Dickhead,  
It’s called tai chi.  
Fuck you,  
402

He told himself he’d deliver the note in the morning and took another shower, wasted time online for a few hours and then finally went to bed.

06.29.16

Fuckface 402,  
I don’t care what the fuck it is you’re doing but do you have to do it with cinder blocks tied to your feet?  
Sincerely,  
302  
P.S. Bet you’d like to

***

Asshat,  
I do it with shoes on. You should try it. Tai chi helps build muscle strength, balances you, and helps centres your emotions. It’s better than listening to Someone Like You 50 times in the middle of the night.  
Yours,  
402  
P.S. Who hurt you?  
P.P.S. In your dreams.

***

Herb,  
Why do you wear shoes inside? That’s unsanitary. Also, I’ll have you know that nobody hurt me, I just really like that song.  
As always,  
302

06.30.16

“He called me a herb!” Keith said, much louder than he had to. He was at a restaurant with his friend Shiro who he hadn’t seen in months and for some reason, the only topic of conversation was his annoying upstairs neighbour.

“And you take offence to that… why?” Shiro asked with an amused look on his face.

“Because it’s coming from him!”

“Keith, that’s stupid. You can’t let the guy get to you.”

Keith groaned. Shiro had always been a brotherly figure to him, which was appreciated when he needed actual advice and not someone to bitch to. 

“Anyways, enough about me. How are you doing?” Keith asked, knowing he wasn’t going to get what he wanted from his friend. As Shiro began to talk about his life Keith tuned out, thinking instead of his annoying neighbour and the lovely boy he had seen at the coffee shop. 

Shiro had ended his story and now the two were steeped in a heavy silence, one that had become comfortable after all their years together. This was probably Keith’s favourite thing about his friend, his ability to let silence fall when it was right instead of filling it up with idle small talk like most other people Keith knew.

They finished their food and paid the bill before walking outside and eventually parting ways, promising to get together more often. Keith then rode his bike to his apartment building and lugged it up 3 flights of stairs since management hadn’t gotten around to fixing the elevator. He taped his newest note to his neighbour’s door (Dude, you’ve just called me a herb. How low can you go? Sincerely, 402. P.S. I wear shoes inside because my floor’s dirty, duh.) before climbing the final flight of stairs and bursting into his apartment. 

***  
It was just after 7 when Keith heard a loud slam on his door. He grudgingly got up from his bed, placing aside a cup of instant noodles that he had made and pausing the lecture he was watching.

He after opening his door he pulled off the note and gave it a read.

Herb the Herbiest of Herbs,  
This is really counter productive and I’m running out of paper. Next time you have issues text me. 613-555-0176.  
Yours Truly,  
302  
P.S. Maybe your floor is dirty because you wear your shoes inside?

Keith scoffed, there was no way he was going to text that asshole about anything.

07.01.16

It was raining on the first day of July, which didn’t do anything to wash away the heat. If anything it just made the city more humid. It had slowed down to a drizzle by the time Keith had to go to work, but this didn’t change the fact that it had rained so hard in the night that it had come through his open window and soaked his sheets. Keith was mercifully spared and his clothes didn’t get wet, but he was still uncomfortable.

He took his sheets off his bed and put them in the hamper along with the rest of his dirty laundry then threw on some clothes and went off to work. Keith hadn’t thought of buying a rain coat, thinking he would just rely on his winter jacket if he had to, but in this weather wearing that would give him heat stroke so he ended up soaking his clothes. For the first time in a while, Keith took the bus to work since his bike would get rusty in the rain.

Once at work Keith, soaked to the bone, took his place at the cash register. He worked without incident for a few hours until he came in. 

Keith was not ready to see Pidge’s friend again, much less talk to him. He never thought he would see this guy again, and although he was rather disappointed about this he had figured it was the best. The fact that one person could have such an effect on Keith made him scared, and now that one person was standing in line in front of his cash register.

It wasn’t that this guy was incredibly good looking, Keith decided, it was the way that light almost emitted from him, lighting up everything around him and making him glow. It was as if the universe had conspired to make a singular perfect person that seemingly complemented the very fabric of reality.

“Hey, could I have a coffee?”

The boy had reached the cash register, forcing Keith to act like an actual human so as not to scare him away.

“What kind of coffee?”

“There are different kinds?”

“Yeah.”

“Umm… regular coffee?”

“Can I have a name?”

“Ryan Gosling”

Keith rolled his eyes and started making the drink, grudgingly writing “Ryan Gosling” on the cup. When he called out that it was done a few people turned their heads, but most people were used to people giving fake names and didn’t bat an eye.

“Ryan Gosling” came to pick up his drink and took a seat next to Pidge, who was working at their computer again. Keith then realised that the two had probably come in together and he hadn’t noticed. Keith wasn’t just scared anymore, he was terrified.

***

Just the night before Keith had told himself that he’d much rather die than ever text his neighbour, but since he was in a bad mood from the rain and being distracted by Pidge’s friend he snapped.

K.Kogane: Did you steal my laundry basket?  
Received 17:37  
K.Kogane: This is apt. 402 by the way  
Received 17:38  
613-555-0176: No, I didn’t  
Sent 17:40

That was that. Keith put his phone away, promising himself that he’d never text that asshole again and went out to look for his basket.

07.02.16

 

Keith came home from work to find his laundry in front of his apartment door. Surprised that someone had actually found it he brought it inside and sat down on his couch. He opened his phone for the first time all day and looked at his messages.

613-555-0176: Did you find your basket?  
Sent 9:30  
613-555-0176: I think I found it.  
Sent 11:59  
613-555-0176: EEEWWW it’s full of underwear.  
Sent 12:00  
613-555-0176: I’m putting it outside your apartment.  
Sent 12:02  
613-555-0176: It’s there.  
Sent 12:10  
613-555-0176: No need to thank me.  
Sent 14:00  
613-555-0176: What’s your name by the way?  
Sent 15:00

Keith sighed, it was hard to hate someone who returned your missing laundry. He added Lance’s number into his contacts and texted him back. 

K.Kogane: Look on the buzzer.  
Received 18:00

Just because he wasn’t ignoring the guy didn’t mean he was going to be nice. After several minutes Keith’s phone went off.

Lance: KEITH  
Sent 18:12  
K.Kogane: Yeah, thanks for finding my laundry.  
Received 18:14  
Lance: No problemo  
Sent 18:15

07.04.16

Lance: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!  
Sent 13:23  
K.Kogane: Thanks, you too.  
Received 13:30  
Lance: You doing anything fun for it?  
Sent 13:32  
K.Kogane: I don’t really celebrate it.  
Received 13:03  
Lance: WHAT? WHO ARE YOU? A SPY?  
Sent 13:34  
Lance: Or worse… a Canadian?  
Sent 13:04  
K.Kogane: The first one was more accurate.  
Received 13:35  
Lance: HAH! I knew something was fishy about that moving van.  
Sent 13:36  
K.Kogane: Yes, they were my fellow agents. They are stationed around the city to keep and eye on the mayor.  
Received 13:38  
Lance: lol  
Sent 13:38

***

Shiro the dude: Keith, I know you aren’t doing anything today and it’s a national holiday so you have no excuse to not see the fireworks with me.  
Sent 14:02  
K.Kogane: Do I have to?  
Received 14:03  
Shiro the dude: Yes.  
Sent 14:03  
K.Kogane: Urg. Fine.  
Received 4:04

***

Despite Keith’s utter loathing of the 4th of July he had to admit seeing the fireworks was nice. It had cooled down significantly once the sun had set, giving him the first taste of comfort since he had moved in May. To add to this, there was a general sense of excitement that Keith practically fed on. He got to the park where the fireworks were being set off around 8, while the sun was still high in the sky, and found Shiro quickly enough.

Shiro had brought along his most recent girlfriend Allura, who was, admittedly, drop dead gorgeous. She brought sparklers and handed some to both of them, explaining that they should write a message with them to bring good luck. Keith had no idea if this was a recognised tradition, but he still liked it.

The fireworks were scheduled to go off just after 10, but the three had some time to kill before then. They all got hot dogs, then splashed each other with water from a fountain when they were done eating. While it was all pretty fun Keith still felt like something of a third wheel and, when they were all too drenched in water to justify splashing each other  
anymore, told Shiro and Allura that he was going to take a walk and would be back.

Keith walked around the park for a while, watching the sun set until he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was Pidge from the coffee shop who was holding a small box with an antenna sticking out of it. With nothing else to do Keith decided to go talk to them.

“Um, hey. Your, umm, Pidge, right?”

Pidge nodded, looking up from their device “Yeah, that’s right. You work at the coffee shop at Main and Third, don’t you.”

Keith smiled “Yep, that’s me.”

“I apologise on behalf of my friend.”

What? Keith thought. The beautiful boy who is seemingly perfect in every way, shape, and form? Why should you be apologising? His presence has graced my existence forever.

Pidge must have noticed the confused look on Keith’s face because she quickly explained that her friend had ordered a coffee under the name “Ryan Gosling” and that it must have been annoying to deal with.

“Oh no, not at all. People do that more than you’d think.”

Pidge chuckled softly and turned back to their box. Not wanting the conversation to be over, Keith asked what it was.

“It picks up the sounds that bats make. They let out little clicks to sense where they are and based on the number and location of the clicks you can figure out where a bat is and how many there are.”

The two talked about this a bit more until Pidge asked if Keith would like to give it a go. He immediately agreed and Pidge lead him to a box where a few devices like their’s and some walkie talkies were stored. Pidge took out one of each and handed them to Keith along with a pen and a clipboard with a piece of paper on it.

“I actually do this for my work,” Pidge explained, “I needed to recruit as many people as I could and everyone I know is a total fucking nerd so they’d only do it if they could pretend to be spies.” As they spoke they fiddled around with Keith’s walkie talkie until some background noise came in.

“This is Pea Child, over.” They said into the walkie talkie.

“This is Secret Egg, what do you want Pea Child? Over.” A voice said in reply. 

“We have a new recruit. Over.”

“Who? Over.”

“The dude who works at the coffee shop you told everyone you were Ryan Gosling at. Over.”

“Oh, great! We’ll call him… Bean Jolene. Over.”

“Are you getting this, Incredible Hunk? Over.”

Another voice came out of the walkie talking saying that it had and Pidge shoved Keith in the general direction of a grove of trees.

While he looked for bats Keith mulled over the fact that “Ryan Gosling” was connected to him via walkie-talkie. Of course, it wasn’t much of a connection, but even just his voice, distorted by the terrible sound quality, made Keith go weak in the knees. Keith also wondered if "Ryan Gosling" remembered him. Apart from having one terribly awkward interaction, the two hadn’t actually talked and most of their relationship was simply Keith staring longingly at him from behind the counter. To add to that, “Bean Jolene” was a pretty simple name, implying that the only thing he knew about Keith was the fact that he worked in a coffee shop.

After running around counting clicks for a while Keith heard the first fireworks go off and panicked, remembering that he had told Shiro and Allura that he'd be with them for the fireworks. He ran back to where Pidge was and shoved his things into their hands, explaining the situation as fast as he could. He then ran back to the fountain where his friends still were, although it didn’t look as if they had missed him since their tungs seemed to be down each other’s throats.

Keith coughed a bit and Shiro and Allura quickly pulled away, apologising to him profusely. Keith waved it off like he didn’t care and sat next to them, watching the fireworks go off and for once in a long time feeling like all the little pieces in his life just fit.

***

Lance: You aren’t actually a spy, though, right? That was a joke? Yes? Please tell me it was.  
Sent 23:59

07.06.16

It was laundry day again. Keith was sitting next to the washer in the laundry room, partially because somebody had tried to steal his clothes once and he didn’t want it to happen again and partially because the room was in the basement and was one of the few places immune from the heat. Although it took a while for the cycle to complete he had brought a book and was quite happy, at least until somebody else came into the room.

Keith looked up to see who it was and did a double take because “Ryan Gosling” from the coffee shop was standing at the door with a basket of clothes resting on his hip, humming some song Keith had heard before, but couldn’t place. He put his clothes in the machine and stood next to it, looking at Keith who hadn’t managed to take his eyes away.

“Are you doing ok, bud?” He asked.

Keith nodded and turned to his book, blushing bright red. “Ryan Gosling” smiled and took a seat next to him, holding out his hand.

“I’m Lance, apartment 302. I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

What?

What?

What?

What?

What?

Keith, who was doing his best not to jump up and scream, took Lance’s hand. He knew it was a bad idea and wouldn’t do anything to stop him from turning into a trembling ball of embarrassment and amazement but he took it anyways. His hand was soft and warm and it made Keith want to find out how the rest of Lance felt.

He immediately pushed that thought away and tried to introduce himself. “I’m Keith… umm… I think we texted a bit…”

Lance’s face glowed and he nodded “Oh, that’s who you are! It’s nice to meet the face to the name.”

Keith nodded and pulled his hand away, realising that he had been holding it for much too long. He prayed for his laundry to finish soon. Unfortunately, it was only halfway done. He inhaled sharply and turned to face Lance again.

“Thanks again for finding my basket.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I guess that’s why you're staying here while your laundry gets done.”

Keith nodded “Yeah, it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“To tell the truth, it gave me a bit of a scare too. That’s why I haven’t left yet. Also, it’s nice to talk to my lovely neighbour.”

Keith blushed. He was supposed to hate this guy, right? They weren’t supposed to enjoy talking to each other or find each other’s laundry baskets. They weren’t supposed to wish each other happy 4th of Julys and Keith was defiantly not supposed to be developing feelings other than pure hate for the guy who played Adel in the middle of the night.

He told himself he was being shallow, he only felt this way because he had been attracted to Lance at the coffee shop, not because of his personality. That’s it, Keith thought You don’t like him, you just like the way he looks. There.

And, even though this was more or less a complete lie, that gave him the strength to keep talking to Lance. Because it wasn’t Lance’s looks that made Keith melt, it was the way reality folded around him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see that quite yet.

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to get to know more people in this building.” Keith finally said.

“Cool. How long have you lived here?”

“Since May.”

“Ah, so you haven’t experienced the Ultimate Winter yet?”

“I’m afraid not.”

They carried on like this for a while until Keith’s laundry finished. He stood up quickly and put it into his basket, mumbling a quick goodbye to Lance.

“Are you gonna dry those?” His neighbour asked, confused.

“Oh… umm… no, these will all shrink.” Keith lied, hoisting the basket onto his hip and opening the door. As he did so he noticed Lance’s face falling a bit, but figured it was about something other than him leaving.

07.09.16

Keith woke up in cold sweat to the sound of loud rock music coming from downstairs. He stood up, confused. This was very un-Lance like. Keith went to his kitchen, the one place in his apartment that wasn’t covered in carpet, and took a cup out of the cupboard. He placed it on the floor and put an ear to it so he could hear what was going on properly.

The first thing he noticed was that Lance was listening to Marilyn Manson, a strange break from the usual top 40 that blared out of his apartment. He listened closer but immediately recoiled because he could hear… things. Specific things that made him think about Lance without clothes and how exactly it had felt when they touched hands and he was weirded out beyond belief.

Before, when Lance was just an annoying upstairs neighbour, Keith would have laughed at the idea that he could make him feel all weak and trembly. But now something had changed. Keith knew that the fact that Lance was “Ryan Gosling” shouldn’t have changed anything, but it did. What would have before been annoyance had turned into jealousy.  
Keith was jealous of whoever was screwing his downstairs neighbour just because he had found him attractive while serving him coffee.

Just to make sure he was right and Lance was actually fucking someone Keith sent him a quick message.

K.Kogane: Marilyn Manson? This is new.  
Sent 00:48 

After waiting for a few minutes for a text he knew wouldn’t come Keith went back to bed.

***  
Lance: Yeah. My one night stand picked the music.  
Sent 04:36

***

K.Kogane: I approve. Keep her.  
Sent 07:05

***  
K.Kogane: Approval revoked. She puked in the stairwell.  
Sent 08:28

***

Lance: *he  
Sent 10:15

Keith had known he wasn’t attracted to girls since second grade, but he still hadn’t become comfortable enough with this fact to correct people as offhandedly as Lance had. He had told Shiro and a few other childhood friends, but when he was younger not many people in his life would treat him the same if they knew. That’s why he was so surprised when Lance had so casually told him he liked dudes. If Keith had been in his position he wouldn’t have said anything. He typed out a quick apology, hoping Lance wouldn’t be offended.

K.Kogane: Oh, sorry  
Received 10:17  
K.Kogane: That doesn’t change anything, he still puked in the stairwell.  
Received 10:18  
Lance: He’s also not the best in bed, lol  
Sent 10:19  
K.Kogane: I’ll file that under “things I didn’t need to know”  
Received 10:20

07.13.16

Lance: Hey, I know this is a bit of a stretch, but I’ve been using my ex’s Netflix for a while and he just found out…  
Sent 22:00  
Lance: And I’m in the middle of Master of None  
Sent 22:01  
Lance: I think you know where I’m going with this.  
Sent 22:02  
K.Kogane: Fine, but only because Master of None is an amazing show.  
Received 22:05  
Lance: THANK YOU I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH A KIND NEIGHBOUR  
Sent 22:06  
K.Kogane: My email is k.kogane5@gmail.com and my password is (?Q-: UcXj\G}_z3r  
Received 22:10  
Lance: THANK YOU AGAIN YOU WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL SOUL.  
Sent 22:11  
Lance: Also, what kind of password is that?  
Sent 22:13  
K.Kogane: From what I see your entire existence relies on me liking you right now so if I were you I wouldn’t criticise my password.  
Received 22:14  
Lance: Right, I’m sorry. Thanks again <3  
Sent 22:15

 

Keith smiled as he put down his phone. Maybe his little “thing” for Lance wasn’t so unfounded. His face immediately fell and he looked around for something to distract him. He had feelings like the ones he had towards Lance before, and it had never turned out good. He’d been in relationships before and they had sort of… fizzled. Keith’s affections didn’t usually last a long time.

07.16.16

Lance: YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE PRINCESS BRIDE?  
Sent 12:34  
K.Kogane: No?  
Received 12:40  
Lance: I’M NOT GOING TO ASK HOW YOU’VE AVOIDED IT. I’M COMING OVER TONIGHT, OK?  
Sent 12:42  
K.Kogane: Only if you bring snacks.  
Received 12:43  
Lance: Deal. See you at 8?  
Sent 12:44  
K.Kogane: See you.  
Received12:44

***

A few minutes after 8 there was a knock on Keith’s door. He immediately shot up from where he had been nervously waiting for the past while and opened the door. There was Lance, holding a bag of food and smiling like he had just won a million dollars. 

“Oh, hey. Come on in.” He said, moving out of the way so Lance could glide inside his apartment. He told Keith he was going to put the food in bowls and went to his kitchen. While he was out of sight Keith ran around his apartment, picking up random clothes and pieces of paper he had lying around. People didn’t come over much.

After a few minutes, Lance called Keith in to help carry the food into his living room.

“I have popcorn and chips and m&ms. Also, I bought some cereal that you can eat if you like, but I didn’t buy that for tonight, I actually need it to eat. And I got some ginger ale. I was going to get some beer or something but the liquor store was closed.” Lance told Keith as they placed the food at the foot of the couch.

“I have some wine if you like.” Keith replied, “My friend gave it to me as a housewarming gift but I don’t really drink so it never got used.”

Lance told him he’d love to have some wine and Keith went back to the kitchen to pour it. Since he didn’t usually drink, buying wine glasses was never really something that had occurred to him so he had to pour it in a coffee mug. It was either that or a plastic cup he’d picked up at a garage sale and he figured that giving that to Lance would make him seem a lot less cool.

He made his way to the living room with two mugs of wine in his hands and the bottle under his arm. He put down the bottle and handed a mug to Lance before sitting down and pulling out his computer.

“Sorry about the mugs, I’m still moving in.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s what’s inside that counts.”

Keith smiled and pulled a chair towards the couch, resting his laptop on it. “I’m afraid I also don’t have a TV yet.”

Lance waved the fact away with his hand. “Insignificant, I don’t have one either.”

As Keith logged into Netflix and looked for the movie Lance was smelling the wine and swirling it around in his cup. Keith gave him a look and he explained that the proper way to enjoy wine was to smell it, taste it, then swirl it around so the particles opened up and smell it then taste it after that.

“Alright then… how do you know this?” Keith asked.

“I’m very sophisticated you know,” Lance stated before downing the whole cup. He then held out his mug towards Keith. “Hit me up!” 

Keith laughed a bit before pouring him another cup of wine. “Very sophisticated. And take your time with this one, I don’t want you to get alcohol poisoning before the movie’s done.”

“Ok, mum,” Lance said as Keith started the movie. Just as he was about to press play Lance shot up and grabbed his hand, sending little shock waves up Keith’s arm. He looked straight into Keith’s eyes, making him blush, and whispered, “This is the best movie in the entire world. Perhaps the entire universe. If you don’t like this movie I’m going to have to talk with the landlord and get you kicked out of the building. Ok?”

“I-I think that’s illegal but ok.” Keith stuttered, hoping that Lance would remove his hand soon so he could act like a normal human again. The opposite happened, in fact, and once he had started the movie Lance laced his arms around Keith’s and leant on him, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder.

Keith did thoroughly enjoy the film, but he couldn’t tell if that was because of the movie its self or the fact that throughout the whole thing there wasn’t a single time when Lance wasn’t touching him in some way. When it was scary or suspenseful he’d squeeze Keith’s arm, when it was calm he’d lean heavily on him and so on. It was clear that Lance had at some point memorised the whole script because he’d say some of the lines under his breath, which at first Keith found annoying but soon became kinda cute and endearing in his eyes.

Lance also really seemed to enjoy the wine that Keith had, drinking maybe 4 or 5 cups that night. That’s why when Lance gave him a look, his eyes heavy with intoxication, and asked if he’d like to do something with him Keith had said no. Not that Keith wouldn’t have given anything at that moment to agree without feeling bad about it, but it was clear Lance was about to pass out at any minute and Keith knew that doing anything other than bring him back to his apartment and tuck him into bed with a few aspirin by his bedside table would be a total dick head move.

Keith helped Lance off the couch and walked him down the stairs, unlocking the door for him and letting Lance put himself to bed (he would have done it himself if Lance hadn’t tried to physically block him from entering his apartment, claiming that it was a mess and smelled like old beans). Then he went back upstairs and started listening to a lecture for school while trying very hard not to think about what would be happening at that moment if he had said “yes”.

07.20.16

“Come to think of it, how have you avoided seeing the Princess Bride?” Shiro asked, lying on Keith’s couch and scrolling through his phone. Keith sighed and took a seat next to him.

“I tell you that the dude I’ve hated for weeks and the dude I’ve been crushing on for weeks is the same dude and he asked me to sleep with him, albeit while drunk, and that’s all you have to say?”

Shiro shrugged “Come on, Keith, we aren’t in middle school anymore. You like someone, he seems to like you back. What people do in this situation is ask each other on a date. No biggie.”

“But it is a biggie! First of all, I don’t even like-“

“-Yes you do.”

“Whatever. Anyways, I can’t ask him out, I’ve never done anything like that before!”  
“It’s not hard. Let’s try. I’ll be Lance and you’ll be you.”

“Fine.” Keith groaned “Lance, I really like you and I think it’d be cool if we got drinks or something sometime.”

“Sure,” Shiro said, not looking up from his phone.

“But he wouldn’t say ‘sure’, he’d say ‘no’! Then I wouldn’t be able to go onto the third floor ever again.”

“Are you sure he’d say no? He did ask you to screw him.”

“While he was almost black-out drunk!”

Shiro rolled his eyes and got up. “Well, I have to go see my girlfriend who I love very much and who loves me and hey, want to know how we got together? I asked her out.”

“You’re the worst,” Keith said to which Shiro just smiled and left.

07.23.16

Lance: Hate to do this again, but you haven’t seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. You have to because you do tai chi.  
Sent 09:46  
K.Kogane: It’s a movie about tai chi?  
Received 09:47  
Lance: … no  
Sent 09:48  
Lance: But it’s about martial arts so…  
Sent 09:48  
K.Kogane: Fine. Whatever. Just bring snacks again. And don’t drink all my wine this time.  
Received 09:49

***

The second movie night went pretty much like the first one, with less wine involved. Lance had brought snacks, Keith supplied the couch and screen, and throughout the whole thing Lance was touching him somehow. 

Keith tried several times that night to tell Lance how he felt about him, but he never got the chance. Not that there weren’t one million perfect moments where he could have said anything, but whenever he started saying it he’d chicken out and change the subject.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was just wondering if… umm…”

“If what?”

“If Jen is Jade Fox.”

“Dude, of course not. Are you even paying attention?”

Unfortunately, the whole night was spent like this and Keith got nowhere closer to Lance than before.

08.09.16

Keith and Lance had decided to devote their Saturday evenings to watching movies, usually ones that Lance picked. Unsurprisingly Keith found himself looking forward to these days and often found himself preparing for them in advance. As a result, his house got cleaner and his wine collection grew.

Lance never asked the question he had asked the first time they ever did it again so Keith figured that if Lance had had any interest it had faded away. He was a bit disappointed but figured it was probably for the best since Keith never really flourished in long lasting relationships and if they had just banged one time it would make their relationship awkward.

This didn’t stop Keith from falling deeper in love every single time he saw Lance.

They’d run into each other in the hallway and Keith would love him more than he had loved anybody. Lance would order a coffee from him and the same thing would happen. Keith couldn’t comprehend how that much feeling could be held within his body while still being able to function.

Keith and Lance were friends though and, although it wasn’t his ideal relationship with Lance, Keith was glad that they spent time together in that capacity. Not only did he become closer to Lance himself, but he was also introduced to his best friends, Pidge and Hunk (both who he had met before; Pidge at the coffee shop and Hunk over the walkie-talkie on the 4th of July). For the first time in his life, Keith felt like he had more than one person around him who cared.

That’s why, after Shiro had bugged him over a billion times about it, Keith decided to rip off the band-aid and tell him. He had written a very poorly constructed note that he was going to slip under Lance’s door on his way to work. 

Lance,  
As you can see I’m really hopeless and I can’t actually talk to you in person about this or even text you or anything so I’m going to give you this letter and if you don’t like it just pretend that I slipped it under the wrong door or something. Whatever. I’m not really good with this kind of confrontation.  
Anyways, here I go.  
This past month or so has been really great, mostly because of you. Sorry, I don’t know how to phrase this, again with me and emotions and the being unable to convey them properly. Whatever. You’re cute. And you have a really great taste in movies, I think. And of course, that’s not the reason I feel like this, I can’t really wrap my head around it, much less describe, why you have such a fucking effect over me so I’m not going to try.  
That last paragraph was the worst I’ve ever written. Please forgive me.  
Do you want to get a drink sometime?  
Keith

He folded up the letter and put it in his pocket before lugging his bike down the stairs to the third floor. Keith was only a few doors away, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his limbs, when Lance’s door opened and he stepped out with a girl on his arm.

Keith tried to turn around as fast as possible, but since he had a bike in tow this was difficult, especially since the hallway was so narrow. Lance noticed him and called him over and Keith complied, doing his best to make it look like he wasn’t dying inside.

“This is my neighbour, Keith,” Lance told the girl standing next to him. She smiled and held out her hand, introducing herself as Lara.

Lace looked at her and grinned then turned to Keith whispering, “She’s my main squeeze.”

“Y-Your main squeeze?” Keith stuttered, hoping that nobody noticed the fact that his heart had just broken into a million different pieces. Thankfully Lance didn’t seem to see anything and just smiled wider.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have phrased it like that, it sounds weird. She’s my… my…”

“Girlfriend.” Lara supplied, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that. Anyways, what brings you to the notorious 3rd floor?”

Keith blushed, knowing that if there had been any chance he was going to tell Lance about the letter it had just vanished. “I was just… er… lost.” 

Of course, Lance saw right through that, but didn’t pry at all, instead just raising his eyebrows. “Hmm, ok. Well, Lara has to get to work, I was going to walk her downstairs but maybe you can do that?”

“Oh… sure.” Keith said, turning around his bicycle again. Lara gave Lance a kiss on the cheek and followed Keith as he walked down the hall. 

When they got to the stairs she offered to help Keith bring his bike down, which he refused. The walk was spent in terribly awkward silence until the two reached the main floor and said their goodbyes.

Well, shit, Keith thought as he rode his bike to work, there goes that chance.

***

Lance: Yo, is it just me or was the thing with Lara this morning super awkward?  
Sent 18:29  
K.Kogane: No, not just you.  
Received 18:31  
Lance: Do you want to talk about it? I value you as a friend and I think if something’s bothering you-you should tell me. Also, you have the power to take away Netflix so I need to play it safe around you.  
Sent 18:32  
K.Kogane: I just wasn’t expecting it that’s all.  
Received 18:33  
Lance: Is it because she’s a girl?  
Sent 18:33  
Lance: Because if it is there’s this thing called bisexuality that I think you should learn about.  
Sent 18:34  
K.Kogane: No, it’s not that. I’m sorry, I don’t really want to talk about it.  
Received 18:35  
Lance: Ok, buddy.  
Sent 18:35  
Lance: Long day?  
Sent 18:38  
K.Kogane: You could say that.  
Received 18:40  
Lance: :(  
Sent 18:41

08.11.16

Lance: 420, blaze it.  
Sent 04:20  
Lance: I know your probably asleep but I drank like 5 cans of red bull and I can’t sleep.  
Sent 04:23  
K.Kogane: I’m awake.  
Received 04:24  
Lance: Dude, why?  
Sent 04:25  
K.Kogane: Homework  
Received 04:26  
Lance: I see. So you’re a smart college person?  
Sent 04:27  
K.Kogane: I don’t think so. None of this makes any sense to me.  
Received 04:28  
Lance: Want help?  
Sent 04:29  
K.Kogane: If you don’t mind…  
Received 04:30

Within a few minutes there was a knock on the door and Keith got up to answer it. Lance was standing there, bouncing up and down on his toes smiling excitedly.

“Homework!” He exclaimed, hopping inside and flinging himself on the couch “What do you study?”

“Sociology,” Keith told him, to which Lance made a face.

“Gross. I majored in astrophysics. It was fun. But I should be able to help you. Bring it here.”

Keith gathered his papers and took a seat next to Lance who started looking them over. After a few minutes of almost nothing, Keith asked if he was still in college.  
“Nah, I graduated a few years ago.”

“A few years? How old are you?”

“22.”

“What? How’d you graduate so quickly?”

“I took extra courses in the summer so I finished high school early. And most of my grade 11 and 12 courses were university level so I got some of them waved once I was actually in college. That’s pretty much it. Not too hard.”

Keith wondered at the guy’s diligence, it really didn’t seem much like him. Keith himself was only in his first year of college since he graduated from high school later than most and then spent a few years lying around trying to figure out what he was going to do with himself. He had decided on sociology since it was supposed to be fairly easy and opened up lots of job opportunities. Despite this, he was actually really disliking all his courses and couldn’t seem to wrap his head around any of the concepts. Lance, on the other hand, seemed to get it immediately.

“Ok, so this is pretty simple, you’re looking at sub-cultures vs counter-cultures and their effect on the dominant culture. So you have to find one instance where both a sub-culture and a counter-culture were present and describe the political and social effects.”

Keith groaned “But how many times has that happened?”

“Plenty of times,” Lance said, “It’s happening right now if you think about it.”

Lance then went on to describe how the current dominant culture in the USA would be middle-class white people while there were other cultures present, these being sub-cultures. He also gave some examples of counter-cultures in today’s society that seemed to oppose the “ruling class”.

“I still don’t get it,” Keith admitted after a while.

“Seriously dude?” Lance said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ok, well, it’s not that I don’t get it, I just don’t see the point.”

“The point? This is one of the most relevant things. It’s people, man. I spent years studying things that I’ll probably never see or work with directly and I could see the point. You’re studying something that affects you every single fucking day and you think it’s useless? You’re learning about how and why people act the way they do! What’s more relevant?”

Keith hung his head and sighed, knowing Lance was right. It still didn’t change the way he felt about it, though. 

After a few minutes of silence Lance spoke again. “Do you think this just isn’t for you?”

“Of course it isn’t fucking ‘for me’” Keith spat.

“No, no, I don’t mean sociology, I mean college. Like how old are you, 22? 23? It either took you a hella long time to finish high school or you were totally unmotivated to go back to school after graduating. Do you think you’re only doing this because that’s what people want you to do?”

Keith thought for a moment before replying. “I guess so… look I don’t really know how to say this without spilling out my whole life story but-“

“-I have time.” Lance interjected, “It’s not like I’m going to sleep anytime soon.”

“Ok,” Keith said “I might as well give it a go. Let’s see… So my parents were these really stupid kids, I mean, I know I shouldn’t say that about the people who brought me into the world and I should be great full and yadda yadda yadda, but seriously. My mum was pregnant with me when she was 15. Like, by the time I was 15 I hadn’t even kissed anyone.”

Lance let out a little snort and motioned for Keith to continue, which he did. “Yeah, so my mum was 15 and she and my dad thought, for some reason, that they could raise me so my mum gave birth to me just to find out that my dad had panicked and bailed. And of course, she couldn’t raise me on her own, what with being 15 and all, so she put me up for adoption. But she still, like, wanted me in her life or something so I had to be given to families that were pretty close by. That doesn’t sound too bad, but not a lot of people wanted to adopt, something about Maine and people being scared of commitment. So I was basically flung around the state until I was 14. This wasn’t even like… being flung around to different cities either, I was tossed to tiny little townships and these places where people would live miles away from each other. I guess that lack of stability or whatever wasn't really good for me since I never really got a chance to form long lasting relationships with anyone.”

By now Lance’s smile had faded and he had moved closer to Keith, placing his hand on top of the other’s. Keith flushed lightly but carried on with his story.

“When I was 14 the legal child care people… what are they called?”

“Child services?”

“Yeah, them. They were like ‘this kid is basically an adult, but he still needs to have a guardian so let’s let him decide who takes care of him’. And, coincidentally, my mum wasn’t really doing anything with herself except for working a steady job so she offered to take me in. Of course, I was ecstatic about this because all my life I had had people telling me how great having a family was, so I said yes because the lady shared half my DNA and that’s what a family is. I lived with her until I was 18, and although she never really became a mother figure to me and we had a few differences we became close enough to stay in touch when I moved away to finish school here. I lived in student housing for a while and I finally graduated when I was 21, the moving around didn’t help my education all that much, and just floated around figuring out what to do with myself. My mum had always told me to get as much of an education as possible since she had dropped out of high school early and never really had that much economic freedom because of it so I pretty much just did what she told me.”

“Which is why your stuck getting a degree that you absolutely hate?” Lance asked. Keith nodded. He had never really told anyone all that in one go, even Shiro had to piece his life story together after years of knowing each other, and it left him completely drained. 

Lance’s face was now only inches from Keith’s, letting his eye’s run over it, taking in every detail of Lance’s face. He tried to memorise it, every line and feature, until Lance was the only thing that existed, had ever existed, would ever exist. The rest of the world had faded away, stored in the back of Keith’s mind like a dream he had years ago. Lance was the only thing that mattered.

When Lance placed his hand on Keith’s face it seemed to make sense, so despite that fact that Keith had never been in any kind of relationship even vaguely as intimate and he and Lance were at the moment, he had no idea what in the name of god was socially acceptable after telling someone everything about you, and Lance’s fucking girlfriend, Keith moved close so their noses were almost touching. 

Lance smiled and closed his eyes, murmuring something that Keith couldn’t quite understand, and he moved forward, so close to closing the gap between them that Keith’s heart felt like it would beat out of his chest. Keith closed his eyes, waiting for the ineffable feel of Lance’s lips against his own.

Or at least, what he thought would have been the ineffable feeling of Lance’s lips, because while he was still in a Lance-induced coma Keith felt the warmth of Lance’s body leave his. Keith’s eyes shot open almost in a panic to see Lance sitting on the opposite end of the couch, his knees hugged to his chest and his face bright red.

“Keith, I’m sorry… it’s just… Lara and…” he muttered.

Keith forced a smile and waved his hand “Don’t worry, I understand. It’s not like I’m in love with you or anything.”

Of course, Keith was lying through his teeth, but Lance didn’t seem to catch on. Despite this, his face fell even lower than it had been before.

“Right. You aren’t in love with me. Lara is. I love Lara.” he said as if trying to convince himself. After a few moments he stood up and told Keith he should be going to bed. Lance let himself out of the apartment leaving Keith to lie on the couch and think things over and over until he drifted off into a restless sleep.

08.13.16.

Neither Kieth nor Lance had made any move to contact each other since that night, although Keith had thought about it more times than he could count. The problem was that Keith had no idea what to say that wouldn’t get his heart broken even more. He had been on his toes though, waiting to see if Lance would say something. So when Keith’s phone went off with the sound he had assigned to Lance’s messages Keith practically jumped from where he was sitting and sprinted over to it.

In the few seconds it took to grab his phone, unlock it, and check his messages Keith had already gone over about a hundred possibilities about what the text could say. Not one of those possibilities was even close to this.

Lance: Hey, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to come over tonight. Something’s come up.  
Sent 12:10

Needless to say, Keith was disappointed. He had been expecting something emotionally charged and passionate, either telling Keith that he’d changed his mind, or rejecting him altogether and telling him that he never wanted to see Keith’s face ever again. This was just dull. It didn’t even seem like it was Lance who wrote it.

He needed someone to talk to, but the only two people he actually felt comfortable around were Lance and Shiro. Lance was out for obvious reasons and Keith felt like talking to Shiro wasn’t what he needed. He either needed to spill everything out or bottle it all up and Shiro was very against unhealthy coping strategies like that. He’d try to convince Keith to be reasonable, which was the last thing Keith wanted to do.

Keith found himself scrolling through his phone to find someone, anyone, not even to talk to anymore, just to make his apartment feel less empty. Finally, he hit a jackpot: Pidge Holt.

He wasn’t quite sure how Pidge’s number had gotten into his phone, but he was grateful. He had talked to Pidge a bit over the past few months and found their way of dealing with problems, especially problems like this, was to ignore them and go on the internet for 5 hours. Pidge wouldn’t pressure him to actually fix things with Lance, and would probably act as the perfect person to dump all his shit on since they’d probably forget it within the next day. And, if worse came to worse, he could at least rely on Pidge to tell him something cool about their work or their research or something that would take his mind off of Lance.

K.Kogane: I had plans tonight that fell through. Would you possibly like to come over and watch a movie?  
Received 12:15

After about half an hour Pidge said yes as long as they could pick the movie.

***  
Pidge arrived almost an hour late, immediately handing Keith a movie. It was one of those stupid conspiracy documentaries. As they got it set up Keith went to the kitchen and brought in some leftover snacks from the last movie night he had had with Lance.

“So, tell me about this mo-“ Keith started, just to be cut off by Pidge.

“-Cut the crap, Keith. I know why you asked me to come over.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, you’re going to whine about Lance and how you love him and he doesn’t love you and blah blah blah. You’re gonna talk to me because you think I’m indifferent to people’s emotional problems because I spend more time with bats then I spend with humans, but let me tell you something, I am not indifferent to people who’ve hurt my friends.” Pidge said, leaning close to him and punctuating their words with a finger that almost jabbed Keith in the eye a few times.

“I haven’t hurt Lance, I swear.”

“Bullshit. You’re all he’s been talking about for the past month, and then… nothing! Neither Hunk nor I can get him to tell us what’s up, and Hunk has like… a way with him. With people in general. But I’m not Hunk so if you don’t fix whatever the fuck is going on with you two I will end you.”

“What about his girlfriend? Does he talk about her?”

“That’s pretty much all he’s been talking about over the past few days,” Pidge admitted, starting up the movie. After the first commercial they turned to Keith again.

“Look, while I will kill you if you hurt Lance more than you have, you’re still cool so I want to be friends.”

Keith nodded “You’re cool too. Tell me about this movie.”

Pidge then proceeded to tell Keith that the film was about the staging of the moon landing (which, according to Pidge, was true). Apparently, it was one of the best films on the topic. They had also brought several other films for later on in the night.

***  
By 3 in the morning Keith’s mind had been expanded. Everything Pidge had shown him just seemed to fit so well. It was amazing. It was exactly what he needed to take his mind off Lance.

At least it was until Pidge left. Then everything he had been feeling before they came rushed back and he was left on square one.

08.17.16

Keith had started practising tai chi more regularly. While he still practised he had fallen out of his formally rigid routine after starting college. Now he did it once, maybe twice a day, while in the few months before he had slipped to doing it maybe once every week.

It did help him focus and briefly, there wouldn’t be room for anything except for movement, not even Lance. 

But, just like the movies with Pidge, it was only a temporary solution and as soon as he was done Lance would flood Keith’s brain once again.

08.20.16

K.Kogane: We haven’t talked in a while, what’s up?  
Sent 15:43

Keith had tried texting Lance for the first time since Lance had cancelled their movie night. He knew he was probably more worried than he should have been about the guy, but wanted to check up on him just in case.

Of course, Keith knew he was still alive and well, the constant noises from downstairs proved that, but he wasn’t worried about that. He wanted to make sure they were alright. Keith and Lance. Lance and Keith.

Lance never messaged him back.

08.23.16

Not thinking about Lance wasn’t made any easier by the fact that his girlfriend had a smoking habit. She’d stand outside the building almost every morning with a cigarette and wave to Keith as he left for work.

The thing was, Keith knew when Lance was getting some, and he wasn’t getting as much as having his girlfriend constantly in the building would imply. Keith wasn’t sure whether to rejoice in this or be sad because Lara staying over without any sex involved probably meant they were doing other things. Like kissing. And cuddling. And falling in love.

08.26.16

K.Kogane: I saw a really cute dog today, thought you should know.  
Sent 22:23

08.27.16

K.Kogane: I guess we’re not seeing a movie together tonight either?  
Sent 20:15

08.30.16

K.Kogane: Do you and Pidge watch conspiracy documentaries on a regular basis?  
Sent 12:09

Keith was trying to master the art of texting somebody you’re head over heels for without sounding pathetic. This involved spacing out text messages and not making them about anything personal or important. Keith thought that striking the right balance might make him seem cool and make Lance want to spend time with him again.

He was wrong.

09.01.16

One day Keith had left early for work and Lara, somehow realising this, decided to offer him a smoke. He declined and she shrugged, lighting herself another one and looking Keith up and down.

After a while she spoke saying, “He loves you, you know?”

Keith’s stomach fell and he could feel his face grow red “I… He… what?”

“Lance. He loves you. He tries not to, but he does.” Lara told him with a sad smile.

Keith blushed “I-I guess I…” he started but changed his mind “even if I loved him back it wouldn’t make a difference. That ship has sailed.”

Lara chuckled, but the sound didn’t hold any humour. “We’ll see about that,” she said “You’re a good guy, Keith. You deserve to be happy.”

Keith was confused but didn’t have time to clarify what she meant since the extra time he had given himself was running out. He said goodbye and went off to work.

09.05.16

Keith had given up. He was finished texting Lance. Done. 

It was obvious he didn’t want to talk to Keith and that was fine with him. Even if he still had strong feelings for Lance Keith figured that they’d go away eventually.

09.10.16

Keith was finally taking Lance’s advice and quitting college. He would finish this semester then be out for good. He was pretty happy about this, but it left him with the same problem he had a few months ago; Keith still had no idea what he was going to do with his life.

That’s why he was sitting in the break room at Allura’s clinic. Shiro had thought it was a great idea to send Keith with his girlfriend to a freakishly clean building filled with highly trained people who knew the exact location of all your organs. Because that wouldn’t be weird at all.

Allura’s coworkers were a strange bunch. They didn’t really say anything when they noticed Keith, or at least they didn’t say anything that you’d expect someone to say to a person who was lying around in their workplace. Allura tried to explain that Keith was there to look at different workplaces to figure out what he should do with himself, but nobody seemed to listen to her, instead they talked a lot about TV and a bit about medicine.

While everyone was nice to him and it seemed cool, Keith just couldn’t see himself working in a place like that even though, as Allura assured him, there were many jobs there that didn’t require a college degree.

Keith took out his phone to see if anyone else was willing to show him around their work and decided to ask Pidge. All Keith knew about what they did was that their job had something to do with bats and it seemed cool.

K.Kogane: Hey, Pidge. I was wondering what you do for a living.  
Received 13:04  
Pidge: Well, right now I monitor the habits and habitats of city creatures, but I kinda just float from job to job. Whatever seems interesting. Why do you ask?  
Sent 13:10  
K.Kogane: I’m looking for work.  
Received 13:11  
Pidge: I wouldn’t really ask me for help with that. I do too many things. Give Hunk a call. He’s an engineer so he has a lot of connections with companies. He might be able to find you a job with a factory or something. His number is 631-564-4324.  
Sent 13:13  
K.Kogane: Thanks.

Keith put Hunk’s name into his contacts and sent him a message.

K.Kogane: Hi, this is Keith, Lance’s friend. I’ve been looking for work and Pidge says that you might be able to help?

Keith scanned the text a bit, wondering if “Lance’s friend” was still the best descriptor of him. They hadn’t talked in weeks, he spoke more with Lance’s girlfriend for Christ’s sake. Deciding it wasn’t really accurate anymore he changed that part of the message to “Pidge’s friend” and sent it.

Hunk: Yeah man! What are you interested in?  
Sent 13:20  
Keith: Anything, really. I’m not highly qualified, I only have a high school diploma, but I have a lot of work experience and I’m good with my hands.  
Received 13:21  
Hunk: I’ll see what I can do :)  
Sent 13:21

09.15.16

Keith was wrong. The feelings he had for Lance did not fade eventually.

09.22.16

Keith jumped out of bed when the text alert for Lance went off. He knew it was almost too good to be true, that it was possible for his phone to glitch and for it to be from someone else. Heck, it was probably spam.

That didn’t stop him from checking, though, and Keith almost fell over in joy when he saw the message.

Lance: Please come over. I’m sorry.  
Sent 00:23

Keith didn’t even stop to change out of his pyjamas or put on shoes. In fact, as soon as he read the text he was out the door and running down the stairs.

The door to apartment 302 was unlocked and Keith walked inside without knocking realising, as he went in, that he had never been inside Lance’s apartment. It was nothing like he expected. First of all, Lance had managed to cram what was probably more books than Keith had ever read into every corner and on top of every flat surface. The apartment also contained an inordinate amount of plants which were also scattered around in random places. Lance’s windows weren’t covered with curtains, rather with cloth, tinting the light that came in through the windows light blue. In the middle of the living room, surrounded by his books and house plants, was Lance, lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. 

Lance didn’t react when Keith knelt beside him, only continued to stare at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. His face was blank, but it was clear he had been crying and he was hugging his arms around his chest like he was trying to comfort himself. For some reason, Keith felt as if he were intruding as if Lance didn’t actually want him there to see him exposed and vulnerable like this.

“I was born in Detroit,” Lance murmured after a while, shocking Keith a bit since he had expected the silence to last longer “My mum was an immigrant from Mexico, and my dad had also just come to the country, from Scotland. They tell me it was love at first sight, which I never really believed, because that’s just something stupid made to make fairytales more convenient, right? But, apparently that’s what it was and they got married within a year of knowing each other and had 5 kids. 5 kids. Don’t ask me why the fuck they did that. Really, it’s a miracle they haven’t killed each other yet, what with so many kids and such a rushed relationship. But, my point is, they were happy with their weird fairytale thing, something I had never even thought possible. That is until I met you.

I first saw you the day you moved in, you were lugging boxes up the stairs by yourself. I was going to ask you why you didn’t have any help, then I saw your face and I just… understood. I guess that’s how my parents felt when they first saw each other. It was weird, I had all these swirly feelings in my stomach, which I guess were the fight or flight mechanisms kicking in because I was so hyped that I asked the landlord where you lived. 

I was figuring out a game plan when I got your first note, and hey, I guess I took my chance. We talked a bit and what’s more, I kept seeing you at that coffee shop. I had to pretend I didn’t know who you were so you wouldn’t think I was some weirdo who watched your everyday moves, and so that Pidge wouldn’t make fun of me. Anyways, we texted a bit and we talked on walkie-talkies while doing that weird bat thing and then we met again, properly, in the laundry room. I don’t have a list of best days, but if I did that would be a contestant for the top of it. 

When I came over and got super drunk I had had a plan in my head, I was going to tell you how I felt. But then the alcohol happened and that all just narrowed down to me asking if you wanted to fuck me. Of course, you said no, and even though I don’t remember much about what happened that night I do remember waking up and realising you didn’t feel the same way I did about you.

That’s when Lara came around. She was great, cute and funny and everything. She wasn’t you, of course, but you weren't an option. So we dated. It was fun. I was utterly miserable. 

Then there was that night and you just opened up to me. Like, I could see everything about you, and I was scared. That’s why I avoided you. I mean, it was mostly because of Lara, but I can’t say fear wasn’t a part of it. 

Now Lara’s gone, she’s off to Europe or something like that. I think she’ll like it. I’m not sad about losing her at all, though, I’m sad because in the process of trying to keep her close I let- no, forced you- to drift away. Keith, I’m so sorry. I’m a pathetic loser and I don’t deserve you, not in the slightest, but if you want there to be something more between us there’s no way in hell I’d be protesting.”

Keith smiled and lay down next to Lance, placing a hand on his waist and turning him so that their noses were touching, then closed his eyes and waited.

This time Lance didn’t turn away.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: I should study for exams.  
> Me to Me: Stay up past midnight for a few weeks writing fanfiction.


End file.
